Fighting Covid-19

‘Convalescent plasma’ method found useful in US, China

Published : Thursday, 9 April, 2020 at 12:00 AM Count : 298

Walid Khan

Preliminary
research has shown that more than 120 years old "convalescent plasma"
medical concept has improved physical condition of critically infected
coronavirus patients in the USA, Europe and China.But in Bangladesh the government hasn't yet applied 'convalescent plasma' treatment method to the Corona-19 infected people.The
government authority claim World Health Organization (WHO) did not
approve "convalescent plasma" treatment procedure that's why they did
not apply this method to the coronavirus affected people in Bangladesh. Plasma
is one of the important components among four of the human blood.
Plasma makes up about 55 per cent of human blood. It carries out several
key functions in the body, including transporting waste products. Other
three component of human blood are red blood cells, white blood cells
and platelets.Plasma looks like a yellow-tinged fluid which contains
about 92 per cent water. This water helps to fill up blood vessels,
which keeps blood and other nutrients moving through the heart. The
remaining 8 per cent of plasma contains several key materials, including
proteins, immunoglobulins and electrolytes. Mentioning so far, all
the studies to prevent the coronavirus around the world are experimental
Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora, Director of the Institute of Epidemiology,
Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) told the Daily Observer that
researchers in different countries are doing different types of
researches on the infection. Dr Flora said Bangladesh has been
following the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines from the
beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Since the WHO has not yet
provided any guidance on 'convalescent plasma,' we have not done any
experimental work on this issue, she added. Arturo Casadevall, chair
of molecular microbiology and immunology at the John Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health told The Washington Post that researchers must
collect blood plasma from people who have recovered from the coronaviurs
infection. The treatment, called 'convalescent plasma,' could provide
short-term relief to a medical system that faces a surge of patients,
with no approved drugs or vaccines he added. Convalescent plasma has
'an old history,' It showed some benefit for a small number of patients
during the Spanish influenza epidemic in 1918. It reduced mortality
from 16 per cent to about 1 per cent among individuals with Argentine
hemorrhagic fever, it decreased time to hospital discharge among people
in Hong Kong with severe acute respiratory syndrome, and it also has
been used to treat Ebola.